This ongoing series from Barrie Historical Archive curator Deb Exel shows old photos from the collection and one from the present day, as well as the story behind them.
J.R. Henderson Hardware — 64 Dunlop St. E.
Henderson’s was a big deal.
An 1872 digest described Henderson’s as an “Importer of and Dealer in Shelf and Heavy Hardware, Bar Iron and Steel, Paints, Oils, Glass, Cordage, Mill Furnishings, etc. etc.,” and in not one but two locations: Barrie and Collingwood.
The growth and development of the Town of Barrie would have certainly benefited Henderson, a hardware merchant since the 1860s. Add to that the number of fires in the downtown core and the resulting rebuilding, and there was likely a great demand for construction materials from J.R.’s store.
In June 1875, fire broke out on the north side of Dunlop Street between Clapperton and Owen streets, right up to Collier Street. With the exception of the bank at the corner of Dunlop and Clapperton streets, all the buildings on that block were wood. Not surprisingly, when the fire took hold, it raged.
The Allandale brigade joined the Barrie fire department to fight the blaze, but the fire was out of control. With the telegraph lines destroyed on this section of Dunlop Street, a runner was dispatched to the railway station to request additional help from Collingwood.
Unfortunately, the situation was beyond help. Store owners on the north side of Dunlop Street gave up and got out. The firefighters switched tactics, resigned to preventing the fire from spreading to the new Glebe Block on the south side of Dunlop Street.
Following the fire of 1875, Henderson relocated his operations to the fire-ravaged block, building his handsome new store on the northwest corner of Dunlop and Owen streets.
The hardware business must have been successful, for in 1877, J.R. Henderson built his beautiful home, Belleview, on Berczy Street, overlooking the town of Barrie and the Blue Mountains to the west.
J.R. Henderson’s tall, imposing structure would not remain a hardware store forever. For several decades, this impressive building has been part of the finance world, home to the Toronto Dominion Bank, Municipal Savings and Loan and the National Bank.
